Often in colloquial speech and in literature you can find the expression "friend of the earth." What does it mean? Not everyone understands the meaning of this phrase. This is due to the adjective included in it. On the one hand, it has several shades of interpretation, and on the other hand, in the phraseological unit under consideration, it is used in a figurative sense. What it means - "friend of the sieve" will be discussed in the article.
Let's look at the dictionary
To understand what it means - "friend of the sieve", carefully consider the interpretation of the adjective included in it.
It is presented in the dictionary in two versions:
- The first one is sifted through a sieve. Example: “Sieve flour can be used to bake, for example, products such as kalachi.”
- The second is the one that is baked from flour sifted through a sieve. Example: “The evening menu consisted of tea, sieve bread, and sometimes sausage was also given.”
Next, consider the origin of the adjective.
Etymology
Derived from the noun "sieve", formed from the Proto-Slavic sito. The latter is a kind of sieve, a fine mesh stretched over a hoop. Or a metal sheet with small holes for sifting, sorting or filtering something. From the Proto-Slavic language also come:
- Russian and Ukrainian, Bulgarian "sieve";
- Serbo-Croatian "sȉto";
- Slovenian and Czech síto;
- Slovak and Polish sito;
- Lower Luga syto.
Proto-Slavonic sito comes from sēi-to, connected with the verb "to sow". And also it is compared:
- with Lithuanian síetas, which means "fine sieve";
- in Latvian siêts - "sieve";
- Lithuanian sijóti and Latvian sijât meaning "to sift";
- Ancient Greek ἤθω meaning "I sift" and ἠθΜός, which translates as "sieve".
Now let's go directly to the meaning of phraseology.
Sitny friend
What does this mean? The dictionary says that this is a colloquial expression that can be used both in the form of a disparaging and in the form of a familiar, jokingly casual appeal to someone.
Examples:
- Again, this friend of the sitny came at a little light and got in the way.
- Petka, my friend Sitny, how glad I am to see you!
To better understand the meaning of the expression under study, we will give synonyms for it. These include the following:
- old;
- buddy;
- friend;
- old man.
Next, consider how the phraseological unit under study has to do with bread.
High quality product
The expression owes its origin to sieve bread. This one appeared in Russia at the beginning of the 18th century. This is a high quality product. It was baked from flour sifted through a sieve. They could eat it at lunch and at dinner, as well as with cottage cheese and honey served for dinner. It is clear that people ate this bread with pleasure, so they figuratively began to call him a friend. And later they began to say “friend of the net” to friends, with whom communication was a pleasure.
Sometimes such bread was called a pie, most likely because they put raisins in it. He was expensive, among the peasants he was known as a symbol of prosperity. It was not put on the table every day, but only to treat dear guests. It is quite possible that the idiom in question was associated with a dear friend.
There is another version that is less popular among linguists. It is based on the fact that a sieve, together with a washing tray, was an indispensable attribute of miners, that is, gold miners. After the waste rock was washed and sifted out, it was in the sieve that particles of native gold remained. Therefore, the adjective "sitny", applied to a friend, means friendship of the highest standard.
Over time, phraseologism began to be rethought, since today people rarely remember about sieve bread. Now on the forums on the Internet you can read the wording, according towhich “friend of the sieve” means an unreliable person, through whom everything passes like through a sieve.
Today, the expression has a more ironic, familiar connotation, which should not be forgotten when using it in colloquial speech.
